Navy clamps down on oil syndicate

Nigerian
Navy is reported to have clamped down on a trans-border oil syndicate that specialized
in siphoning petroleum products in Nigeria, for onward sale in neighboring West
Africa countries.

In
the raid, two boats conveying 235 drums and jerricans filled with the suspected
siphoned petroleum product were recovered and eight Benenois and a Ghanaian
were arrested.

According
to the Commander Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Beecroft, Commodore Ibrahim Shettima,
the foreign suspects were arrested on Monday evening along Nigeria-Benin
Republic border, during a routine patrol.

The
suspects allegedly broke the Nigerian National Petroleum Product, NNPC,
pipelines on the Atlas Cove Island, from where they siphoned the product.

Commodore Ibrahim said most of the illegalities were carried out with the collaboration and assistance of some unpatriotic Nigerians. “The Navy, therefore, uses this medium to warn oil thieves and other criminal elements, particularly in our maritime environment, to desist from these nefarious activities and pursue lawful means of livelihood,” he said.